Boys have outperformed girls in the just-released Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) results.
A total of 817,883 candidates from 15,388 examination centres registered for the 2025 PLE, compared to 797,444 candidates in 2024. Of these, 522,036 candidates from 11,525 centres were beneficiaries of the Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme, while 295,847 candidates from 3,863 centres were non-UPE.
Gender analysis for 2025 shows that 389,469 boys were registered compared to 428,324 girls, indicating that more girls than boys completed the primary education cycle—a trend that has been observed in recent years.
The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) also registered 3,636 learners with special needs across various categories, including the blind, the deaf, the physically handicapped, and learners with dyslexia, up from 3,328 in 2024.
According to the results, 48,220 boys attained First Grade, 186,638 attained Second Grade, 77,453 attained Third Grade, while 37,658 attained Fourth Grade.
Among girls, 43,770 attained First Grade, 201,655 attained Second Grade, 87,773 attained Third Grade, and 47,066 attained Fourth Grade.
Overall, male candidates performed better than female candidates and recorded a lower failure rate. More candidates attained Division One in 2025 than in 2024, an increase of 7,689. In absolute numbers, 7,503 more candidates passed the 2025 PLE compared to 2024.
However, girls performed better in English, with 1.91 percent attaining Distinction One compared to 1.73 percent of boys. In Social Studies with Religious Education, boys performed slightly better than girls, according to the Executive Director of the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB), Daniel Odong.
